1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of personnel identification and in particular to an inexpensive and easily performed method and apparatus for identifying and distinguishing both children and adults according to their bitemark configurations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Identification and distinguishing persons of different age groups and within the different age groups has been a most desirable objective for many years. In the most common example, it is desired to determine or verify the identification of a particular person. That is, a live person is physically available to be tested or subjected to identification procedures and that person's identity is in question. The questioned identity may take the form of ascertaining that the person is a named or particular person. For example, verifying that the person is in fact "John Smith." Or, the questioned identification may take the form of determining the identification of a particular person whose identity is completely unknown. For example, determining the identification of the person whose physical presence is available but where there is little or no information available which suggests his or her identity.
In other more complicated cases of determining a person's identity, the person whose identity is in question is dead and may have been severely burned in a fire, or was dead a relatively long period of time, or other like situations where prior art identification characteristics are unavailable. And, for example, it is desired to know whether or not such a dead person is or is not a person who has been declared missing. Very often in this type of situation it is more important to verify that the dead person is not the person in question.
Regardless of which type of identification is being pursued, a minimum of two and perhaps three sets of identifying records are required. One of the person whose identity is questioned and the second for the person who is to be compared with the reference, the third being of record.
In the past, the primary and foremost method of identification of persons has been by the use of fingerprints. Fingerprint identification is, of course, based on the thought that no two people have the exact same fingerprints and that such fingerprints do not materially change with time. There is no question that throughout the years fingerprint identification procedures have been very successful. Many crimes have been solved through the use of fingerprints and the relatively sophisticated techniques utilized with fingerprint comparisons. Telltale fingerprints left at the scene of a crime have often been the single most important piece of evidence which was used to place the criminal at the scene of the crime and convict him at trial.
Notwithstanding the high success rate associated with fingerprint identification, such identification techniques and procedures do have their limitations and are relatively complicated. An expert technician must be used to record a person's fingerprints. Special ink, ink applicator and a special inking surface must be used by the expert technician in applying the ink to the person's fingers and then transferring the inked fingerprints onto heavy paper which then comprises the fingerprint record. When it is desired to make a comparison of fingerprints, the reference set of fingerprints must be photographically reproduced into a form such as a transparency which then allows the use of the special techniques used during comparison procedures. The expert must then make another set of fingerprints of the person whose identity is questioned; or, in other situations yet another expert must first dust for latent fingerprints left, for example, at the scene of a crime, and once found, must lift the latent prints by the use of special tape and place them onto a special card. Later, photographic reproductions of the latent set of fingerprints or the lifted latent fingerprints must be made and compared to the reference set of fingerprints. This is done by the expert who most painstakingly compares ridge for ridge, bifurcation for bifurcation, swirl for swirl, etc. If the fingerprints match, the bifurcations, number of ridges between distinguishing characteristics, swirls, and other unique characteristics will appear at the same location on each set of fingerprints. It is the expert who makes the comparison and who decides as to the identification. A lay person may not and cannot make these determinations and conclusions. Thus, experts are an essential and material part of the fingerprint identification process. In fact, without any one of such experts in any phase of the procedure, fingerprint identification would not be possible.
Costs are yet another disadvantage of identification of fingerprints. Inconvenience and lack of simplicity are still other factors which disfavor fingerprint identification. Yet, despite their limitations or disadvantages, fingerprint identification has been most useful. Probably because no other method or apparatus has been so well developed by long term use and improvements and prior to the present invention no other method and apparatus has been devised which is capable of matching the high degree of certainty of identifications made by fingerprints.
Where a reference or comparison set of fingerprints is not available or obtainable, such as in those examples earlier described, fingerprint identification is, of course, not a viable technique. This is a significant limitation.
Identification by use of teeth characteristics has in the past been attempted but has achieved only limited success. Such prior art techniques were based on the person's previous dental record. And, this technique has been used usually when the person to be identified is dead.
Since teeth do not materially change over the years and because teeth can survive fires, long term effects of water, time and other conditions which would deteriorate most body features, teeth have naturally lent themselves to attempts at identification. In such attempts, the subject's teeth are compared to the record of a person's teeth to determine if there are any similarities. Similarities may comprise missing teeth, capped teeth, teeth fillings, and the locations of such characteristics. This identification technique must necessarily rely on having a record of the person's dental history as well as first having a strong suspicion of the person's identity. Thus, such techniques have inherent limitations which do not permit widespread usage. These techniques tend only to supplement fingerprint identification methods and then are only marginally successful because of the need to originally suspect the person's identity and then find his dental records.
Accordingly, there is a need for new and useful identification procedures which are simple, convenient, inexpensive, easy to use, do not require numerous experts, and are effective.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide an identification method and apparatus which produces a record which can be conveniently and easily obtained by the individuals themselves or by other lay persons.
Another object of the present invention is to be able to produce an identification record at a minimal cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus which provides for personnel identification which is applicable to both children and adults and will be useful for an indeterminate and long number of years.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for personnel identification which does not necessarily require an expert to make a comparison between a reference and a person whose identification may possibly match up with the reference.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for personnel identification which has widespread use over a large population of individuals.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for personnel identification which is reliable and possesses a high degree of certainty of the conclusions of comparison or non-comparison.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for personnel identification which can readily be adaptable to computer usage including storage, recall, analysis of distinguishing characteristics, and rendering an opinion as to a positive or negative comparison.
Although not specifically mentioned, there are various other objects and advantages of the present invention which will be apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon a fair reading and interpretation of the present specification, claims, and drawings, and which other objects are intended to be included within the present invention.